Jiajing Chengming

Jinang nodded.

"Sing and dance for me."

Zhu Houcong gave direct orders at this time.

Jinang clenched his fists and gritted his teeth:
"Your Majesty, you Han people have a saying that a scholar can be killed but not humiliated!"

"Although I was captured by your ministers, it does not mean that I can be humiliated by you at will! I kneel down to you because I respect you as the emperor, but you cannot think that I have submitted to you and sing and dance for you."

"What do I want you to sing and dance for me?"

Zhu Houcong asked at this time.

Jinang raised his head seriously and said, "Unless you can prove that you are really the great emperor of Ming!"

"How?"

Zhu Houcong asked.

Jinang said, "Let your generals fight me with swords, spears, horses and archery! They must defeat me!"

"Go and ask which ministers are willing to fight him for me."

Zhu Houcong gave an order at this time.

"Yes!"

Jinang sneered and said, "As far as I know, many of your civil officials can only ride in sedan chairs, and many of your military officers cannot draw bows. The imperial guards in the capital can only lay bricks and burn tiles, and countless soldiers who can fight have been dismissed. I really don't know who among your ministers can compare with the men of my grasslands."

"You guys from the grassland are so powerful, why are you still captured?"

Zhu Houcong asked at this time.

Jinang blushed immediately and defended himself, "I said, I just fell into the trap of your Ming ministers. You relied on your firearms and took advantage of the favorable terrain to ambush us. If you really set up a battle formation, we will not lose! At least I will not be captured alive by you!"

Zhu Houcong smiled faintly: "It seems that you are indeed unconvinced. I will make you convinced. Moreover, I will not only make you convinced, but also make all the people on the grasslands convinced and sing and dance for me!"

Jinang laughed and said, "I'm waiting for that day."

The next day.

Yang Yiqing brought the list of people who had registered to compete with Jinang.

What did not surprise Zhu Houcong was that there were many names of civil officials on the list.

Zhu Houcong knew that his Ming Dynasty was full of talented people.

As he continued to hold special examinations and broaden the path for ordinary scholars to advance, there would definitely be more talented people in the court.

Because the population base of the Ming Dynasty is there, and the foundation of nurturing scholars for 150 years is also there.

Zhu Houcong then looked at the list carefully.

He was not sure whether many of the ministers on these lists could defeat Jinang, but he was sure of two people.

One of them was Tang Shunzhi, a Jinshi who was studying politics.

One of them was Yu Dayou, who had just been transferred back to Beijing with Huo Tao to serve as a clerk in the Governor's Office and an instructor in the training ground.

After all, as far as Zhu Houcong knew, the former was a famous official who fought against the Japanese pirates in history and a master of martial arts. He followed his father, who was an official in various places, to visit martial arts masters since he was a child. Therefore, his martial arts were as famous as his talent. According to historical records, he once defeated the Japanese pirates who came to assassinate him with a pen. His archery skills were even more amazing, and he was praised as "the seal is in the air without a shadow but the sound is heard, and the archery is on the ground without dust". Even Qi Jiguang praised his martial arts.

Not to mention the latter, it is said that he was invincible in Shaolin before he attacked the officer of Baihu.

"Let the scholar Tang Shunzhi compete with him first!"

Zhu Houcong said.

Yang Yiqing was stunned after hearing this and hurriedly advised: "Your Majesty, shouldn't you be more cautious? After all, Tang Shunzhi is just a scholar who has been selected as an observer among the civil officials, and we don't know his background. We can't elect him just because he signed up. If he does, he might lose and affect the national prestige."

"Let him compete. If he can beat Jinang, doesn't that mean Jinang is not as good as a newly-appointed Jinshi from the Ming Dynasty?"

"This will help to dampen Jinang's arrogance and make him willingly persuade Altan to withdraw his troops."

"And if he loses, it won't be shameful. After all, he is just a civil official, and a scholar from a gentle and wealthy place like Jiangnan."

Zhu Houcong said.

Yang Yiqing had no choice but to agree. When Jinang learned that he was going to compete with a newly-minted Jinshi from Jiangnan, he was naturally very excited.

"Your Ming Emperor is such an humiliating person!"

"I don't want to compete with some scholar from the south. Let him send his most powerful general to come to the front!"

"As long as I lose to his most powerful general, I will also surrender!"

Jinang protested to the Jinyiwei of the Zhenfu Division who were guarding him.

Shi Bao, who was in charge of the Jinyiwei, said: "Our Majesty said that even a person like you who is both civil and military among the newly-appointed Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty can defeat you. This is not to humiliate you, but the confidence of the emperor of the superior country!"

After hearing this, Jinang laughed in anger: "Good! Your emperor has killed his disciple. Don't feel too bad about it."

then.

Jinang was taken to the parade ground.

Also coming to the parade ground were the main officials of the Ministry of War and the Five Military Governor's Office.

The first game will be a shooting competition.

Two targets were first set up on the parade ground. The cloths covering the targets were painted with human figures. Two wooden poles were inserted into the targets, and ropes were sewn on the edges of the poles and nailed to the targets, making it look like a person riding a horse. The entire target was seven feet high and two feet wide.

As required, Jinang and Tang Shunzhi stood eighty steps away from the target.

Behind them were bows and arrows that required different amounts of force to pull.

Among them, the most difficult to pull is the Tiger Power Bow, which requires more than 120 kilograms of force to fully pull it.

"The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" once described this bow as follows: "The maximum force required to pull the bow is 120 kilograms. Any more than this is tiger power, which is innumerable." This means that there are only a few people in the world who can pull the tiger power bow.

At this time, Jinang glanced at Tang Shunzhi who was standing not far from him.

Seeing that Tang Shunzhi had a fair and delicate face, he was quite disapproving, so he directly chose a tiger-power bow, so that he could directly intimidate the man with one arrow and make him admit defeat voluntarily.

For Jinang, he had been practicing archery on the grassland since he could walk, so he was confident that he could pull a strong bow like the Tiger Power Bow.

After picking up the Tiger Power Bow, Jinang indeed pulled the bow and shot an arrow, which directly pierced the target.

Jinang couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly.

However, the Tiger Power Bow required too much strength to use, so Jinang's arms felt weak after he pulled the arrow.

But what Jinang didn't expect was that Tang Shunzhi also picked up the Tiger Power Bow.

Moreover, when Jinang saw Tang Shunzhi drawing the bow and his clothes were stretched open by his arms, he realized that under the other person's delicate face, he actually had very strong arms and a bulging chest!

Only then did Jinang realize that the Ming Dynasty scholar in front of him was indeed not to be underestimated.

Therefore, Jinang had to use the Tiger Power Bow again to suppress Tang Shunzhi.

But when he pulled the Tiger Power Bow for the second time, he missed the target, not knowing whether it was because he had been imprisoned in the imperial prison and had neglected training, or because he was not born with enough talent.

This was mainly because when he pulled the string the second time, he couldn't continue to pull the Tiger Power bow hard to aim, but could only quickly release the string when pulling it.

Even so, he felt his arms were as heavy as if they were tied with a stone.

But he found that Tang Shunzhi also pulled the Tiger Power Bow again and hit the target again.

"it is good!"

Guo Xun couldn't help but yell at this moment, and then he looked at Li Chengxun and asked worriedly: "Grand Marshal, I heard that His Majesty randomly selected, so are all the civil officials who signed up for the competition this time of this level?"

Li Chengxun smiled and said, "I don't know either."

"If that were to happen, we, the military officials, would not be able to hold our heads up in front of His Majesty."

Guo Xun couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Jinang also clenched his fists, and when he saw Tang Shunzhi pull the Tiger Power Bow for the third time and shoot another arrow, he opened his mouth wide.

He was afraid that if he used the Tiger Power Bow again, his hand would be broken, so he did not draw the bow again. He just bowed to Tang Shunzhi and said, "I admit defeat! Let's compete with swords and spears."

Tang Shunzhi also put down his bow and turned his arms. (End of this chapter)